


the scent of ozone

by almostannette



Series: Annette's ATLA fics [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon-Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Crystal Catacombs, Final Agni Kai, Gen, Lightning Redirection, Mental Breakdown, Unhealthy sibling relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:40:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25510714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almostannette/pseuds/almostannette
Summary: Three times Azula uses lightning. Three glimpses into the mind of a troubled teenage girl.She hits her target (of course she does, Azula has never executed any bending form sloppily), the Avatar falls and for just a second, it seems as though the world is standing still, shocked by Azula’s audacity to go for a fatal blow. Why? Have they forgotten who she is? She’s the daughter of Ursa, a woman who’d willingly killed a monarch – the highest sort of treason imaginable – to protect her pathetic son. Maybe she’s taking after Mother. Maybe Mother hadn’t hated her because Azula was a monster, but because Ursa saw her own innate ruthlessness reflected in her daughter.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Annette's ATLA fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892011
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	the scent of ozone

**Author's Note:**

> This was an interesting project to work on! It's the first time I've ever written from Azula's POV and I'm quite happy with how it turned out! I hope you'll like it! :)

1.

Azula hasn’t seen her brother and uncle in three years and now she’s supposed to capture the traitors and bring them back home, where they’ll rot in a cell. It’s better to lock them up than let them roam free, so those two royal rejects can’t dishonor the Fire Nation anymore.

Father has given her a battleship and troops and Azula’s only fourteen - even Uncle Iroh had been sixteen when he'd first been given so much power by the reigning Fire Lord. It's a testament to how much Father trusts her.

Azula won’t disappoint him.

Failure, like weakness, is not an option, never has been an option. She was born lucky – Father has said so. Her brother, who was just lucky to be born, wears the consequence of his weakness on his face.

When Azula sees Zuko again, she’s careful not to look surprised. After all, it’s the first time she’s seen his face since the Agni Kai. The scar looks even worse than expected; Father didn’t hold back. Just as he ruthlessly left a mark on his son's face, Ozai is determined to leave his mark on the world.

Would Mai still like him, Azula asks herself if she could see Zuko as he is now? With half his handsome face blasted off, replaced with a warped and angry scar?

Of course, Azula’s heard the stories of Zuko's pitiful attempts at capturing the Avatar, failing at the task of apprehending a twelve-year-old just as he failed at keeping his mouth shut. The worst part of it is that he still seems to have hope that Father might actually redeem him.

Pathetic.

Azula is undoubtedly a world-class liar, but Zuko  _ knows _ her. He ought to know not to trust her. …as though Father could ever be persuaded to welcome his embarrassment of a son back with open arms. If Zuko truly believes that, then he's learned nothing during his banishment. Father values power and cunning, loyalty, and ruthlessness, qualities Azula possesses in abundance, but Zuko sorely lacks.

Azula has never cared much for Iroh, the bumbling old fool, but she has to give credit where credit is due. At least  _ he _ seems suspicious and not nearly as gullible as her good-for-nothing brother.

(If anyone tried to take the throne away from  _ her _ , Azula wouldn't rest until she had exacted her vengeance and reclaimed her birthright. Iroh, however, is just like Zuko - weak-willed and spineless, unworthy of being a part of the royal family. In the end, Iroh's suspicion won’t matter, it won't foil her plan. As long as Zuko's fooled for long enough to board the ship, Iroh will follow suit. Zuko is Iroh's weakness. These past three years, he demonstrated time and time again that he'll follow that boy to the end of the world. He'll also follow him into imprisonment, Azula is sure of it.)

Capturing her brother and uncle?

It's basically a done deed.

Until one of the imbecilic guards commits an unforgivable mistake.

He dares to tell the truth.

"The prisoners", he says.

_ The prisoners. _

All of Iroh's worst suspicions are confirmed by a little slip of the tongue and even Zuko realizes that he's been deceived.

(Took him long enough.)

Fighting her brother is hardly a challenge. Zuko is much too aggressive – in turn, that makes him easy to control and even easier to outsmart. He’d always been like that, not thinking things through before rushing into them, blurting out his disapproval when he ought to have bitten his tongue. Azula stays calm - it's her brother she's fighting, after all, and she's known him all her life. Three years at sea didn't turn Zuko into a better fighter, they just served to make him bitter and angry, like a beaten dog lashing out. His bending is chaotic, unfocused, and ineffective.

Azula takes a deep breath and clears her mind until it's completely calm until she can feel the energy around her and separate it, not tainting it with any of her own thoughts and emotions. She starts the motion of the form, the form she's so very nearly perfected (only one hair out of place), electricity crackling at her fingertips, anxiously waiting to be released.

Zuko won't know what hit him—

Until Iroh suddenly grabs her hand. Azula gasps as her bending is suddenly beyond her control. Iroh's guiding the lightning away from her, but Agni alone knows  _ how _ .

But does it really matter how Iroh defeated her? The result is what matters.

Her lightning had failed to meet its target. Iroh and Zuko, pathetic traitors that they are, managed to escape.

Shame curdles in her gut, white-hot and destructive like the flames she bends.

No, it wasn't a failure, she tells herself. (It can’t have been a failure, mustn’t have been a—)

It was only a temporary setback, a sign to increase her efforts.

And when they meet again, Azula will know she mustn’t focus on Zuko. Iroh is more skilled than she gave him credit for. She underestimated her opponent, that was a mistake.

Azula is not like her brother. She won't make the same mistake twice.

* * *

2.

The Avatar’s eyes and tattoos are glowing in an otherworldly white. Azula feels her heartbeat quicken. She's read the reports: how the Fire Nation's fleet was decimated by this twelve-year-old, who'd ruthlessly exploited the Avatar State to tip the scales in battle, turning himself into the vessel with which an angry spirit could exact his revenge.

What might he do here, in the crystal catacombs, when Azula is so close to her goal? When she's conquered Ba Sing Se and persuaded her brother to betray the only person who’s always stood by his side?

Failure is not an option.

She doesn't have much time, the Avatar could begin his attack any second, and who knows if she'll ever get such a clean shot again...

Azula inhales, clears her thoughts, aims carefully, and strikes.

She hits her target (of course she does, Azula has never executed any bending form sloppily), the Avatar falls and for just a second, it seems as though the world is standing still, shocked by Azula’s audacity to go for a fatal blow. Why? Have they forgotten who she is? She’s the daughter of Ursa, a woman who’d willingly killed a monarch – the highest sort of treason imaginable – to protect her pathetic son. Maybe she’s taking after Mother. Maybe Mother hadn’t hated her because Azula was a monster, but because Ursa saw her own innate ruthlessness reflected in her daughter.

The waterbender shakes off her stupor and rushes towards the limp figure of the Avatar on a large tidal wave, catching, in her slender arms, the last, vanquished hope of the rest of the world.

Iroh turns on them, going from potential to full-on traitor, not that Azula was surprised. He surrenders to the Dai Li as soon as the Avatar and the Water Tribe girl are out of sight.

_ Weak _ .

Normally, Azula would gloat at seeing her uncle immobilized, imprisoned, in custody where he belongs. However, this day is monumental, and among her many triumphs, Iroh’s arrest is the least impressive. She’s conquered Ba Sing Se, wasting a fraction of the resources Iroh had spent on his six-hundred-day siege. The last strong bastion of resistance the Earth Kingdom had left will fall under Azula’s watchful gaze – at age fourteen, she’s outdone her uncle, the former crown prince.

And more than that, she’s killed the Avatar. She went up against divinity, had taken a chance and the spirits had chosen to reward her daring, granting her victory.

In a single day, she’s outdone both her uncle and generations of Fire Lords before her – Sozin had failed where she has succeeded, killing the Avatar, removing the largest obstacle preventing total victory for the Fire Nation.

Azula has never felt more powerful than when she hit the Avatar with her lightning, making him fall.

Still, she only allows herself a few moments of gloating, imagining the significance this moment will play in history. Future generations of school children would recite the history of the Fire Nation – the history of the world – and they’d certainly mention Princess Azula, no _Fire Lord_ Azula. Paintings would depict the moment in which she killed the Avatar, the last airbender, once and for all… but all that will have to wait. She’ll have to delay that particular gratification. The only people who’ve seen what she’s done are the Water Tribe girl, Zuko, Iroh, and the Dai Li. The Water Tribe girl will soon be dealt with, she’s sure. Soon, there won’t be any place in the world where she could hide from Azula. Iroh is a traitor, nobody will take his word seriously or believe him when he accuses her of deception. The old fool won’t be a problem. The Dai Li have sworn their complete loyalty to her and Azula has every intention of severely punishing even the slightest slip-up. There is no greater motivator than fear. That leaves… Zuko. And Azula can already feel that she’s going to have a little fun with her _dear_ _brother_.

* * *

3.

Sozin’s comet is burning through the sky, the war is coming to an end and in just a few moments, Azula will be crowned.

Father trusts her enough to make her Fire Lord.

She’s going to be  _ Fire Lord. _

Fire Lord Azula.

“Fire Lord” is all that’s on Azula’s mind. She has to focus on that word, has to repeat it to herself time and time again. If she didn’t, if she let her mind wander into other (dangerous, unknown, out-of-control) places, she won’t be able to summon the necessary strength to guide it back to normalcy.

She’s going to be Fire Lord.

_ Fire Lord. _

She’s so engrossed in her thoughts she fails to notice the Avatar’s flying bison approaching the courtyard where her coronation is going to take place.

(In her wildest dreams, she’d always imagined this moment differently. An empty courtyard is not the audience she pictured for her coronation – she used to think of a large crowd, bowing down before her, swearing their everlasting allegiance… Well, the Phoenix King can’t rule forever and eventually, the world will need a Phoenix Queen. Azula’s moment will come.)

The giant beast lands in the courtyard, revealing its riders to be Zuko and the waterbender, the former of whom dares to challenge Azula’s claim to the throne.

It’s so absurd, Azula can’t contain the high-pitched laugh escaping from her mouth. As if Zuko and she were even remotely on the same level… it’ll be a pleasure to put him in his place and so Azula gladly offers him a fight for the crown.

Agni Kai.

And as always, Zuko is thoughtless enough to take the bait.

The waterbender is clever, she sees through Azula’s strategy in a matter of seconds and if they weren’t sworn enemies, Azula would almost ( _ almost _ ) respect that. But she knows her brother too well, knows he’s not going to back down from the challenge, even though it’s a suicide mission.

“I’m sorry it has to end this way,  _ brother _ .”

“No, you’re not.”

No, she’s not. The comet makes her feel giddy with power and she’s been itching to use it all day. Now that Zuko’s offered himself up on a silver platter there’s no need to hold back anymore.

The showdown that was always meant to be, ever since they were born, ever since Zuko betrayed the Fire Nation during the solar eclipse with the preposterous, ridiculous plan to join the Avatar to teach him firebending.

(Azula read the letter Zuko had written to Mai, explaining himself in perfectly straight rows of neat, orderly characters, conforming to the standardized forms taught at the Fire Nation Royal Academy for Boys. In Azula’s opinion, Zuko needn’t have bothered to explain his obviously deranged thoughts to anyone. All  _ she _ got from the letter was a single, decisive word:  _ treason _ .)

There’s no one left to stand between her and Zuko.

She doesn’t need to hold back anymore.

She hurls a mass of blue fire at her brother.

Mother, who would have scolded her for not getting along with her brother is long gone, gone after committing treason (there is that dirty word again, as though it’s a stain on her family’s history she’ll never be able to get rid of.)

Mother was gone and it was Zuko’s fault, Father had been quite clear about that. But had her leaving changed anything for Zuko? No, of course not, because soon after that, Uncle Iroh – wife-less, son-less, crown-less Uncle Iroh – returned to court and took Zuko under his wing. He gave his nephew all the attention Ursa had formerly bestowed upon the boy and even let him learn sword-fighting.

What did Azula get in exchange? Less and less attention from Father, because now he was busy ruling the nation. It was unfair.

As she continuously attacks Zuko, a thought creeps up on her: something’s different today, something’s not quite right.

She only figures it out when she falls, hard, bruising her body in a temporary defeat and panting hard with the need for more air.

None of her attacks met their intended target.

Zuko has actually improved his firebending.

This can’t be happening.

Not today, not ever.

She knows she’s the better bender, always has been, practically since the day she was born.

Azula is a prodigy, she knows this, everyone tells her so. She ought to be able to defeat Zuko without breaking a sweat, just as she’s done so many times before.

This can’t be happening.

She’s better than this.

She’s better than Zuko.

She’s better—

“No lightning today?” Zuko taunts her in a cruel role reversal. “Afraid I’ll redirect it?”

Azula stares at him with wild eyes, already feeling electricity crackling at her fingertips. “I’ll give you lightning!” She moves through the form instinctively, the air around her crackling with the first harbingers of havoc the lightning will wreak.

Zuko, for his part, appears completely calm, anticipating her attack…

But Azula hasn’t taken his bait. Father told her of Zuko’s abilities, that lightning would be useless against him. But not everyone on the battlefield can redirect lightning. Why, one person on the battlefield isn’t even a  _ firebender _ .

She waits until the very last moment before she changes her aim, releasing the lightning in the direction of the water tribe girl.

It’s a pleasure to see Zuko’s eyes widen in shock as he realizes what she’s done. Serves him right – people get what they deserve if they choose Zuko’s side over her. Mai and Ty Lee (filthy traitors that they are) will never see the light of day again if Azula has her way and the waterbender will find out she’ll have to pay an even higher price for befriending Zuko.

Zuko screams out as if he could somehow stop the inevitable, and, in a pathetic attempt at lightning redirection, he jumps in front of the lightning. Just like the Avatar before him, he crumples and falls—

A small part of Azula realizes she’s just shot down her brother with lightning. A much larger part rejoices that she’s succeeded at a task at which Father had failed.

–but then the waterbender speeds towards a groaning, suffering Zuko, hands enveloped with water, half in a bending stance already. Some waterbenders have healing powers and it must have been her who healed the Avatar after Azula’s attack which ought to have been fatal.

Oh no, you won’t, Azula thinks and keeps hurling lightning at the peasant girl. With the power of a thousand suns fueling her chi, the water tribe girl won’t stand a chance.

She won’t stand a chance, just like Zuko, just like Mai and Ty Lee, just like the entirety of the Earth Kingdom…

The waterbender’s pathetic attacks are almost enough to make Azula laugh as she evades them easily. She’s just about to strike the waterbender down once and for all, when she can’t breathe, she can’t move and everything’s gone cold, cold, ice-cold, dousing the warmth of her inner fire, dousing the power of a thousand suns.

Azula tries to bend her way out of the icy prison the waterbender has created for the two of them but realizes she can’t… her chi feels stuck,  _ frozen _ , and she’s unable to even heat up her palms to melt the ice.  _ “Firebending comes from the breath,”  _ Uncle Iroh used to tell Zuko. Back then, she’d always dismissed it as a stupid saying, designed to make Zuko feel better about his weak bending – Azula knew firebending didn’t come from the  _ breath _ , it came from willpower and strength. But helpless as she is, as the only part of her that’s burning are her lungs, Azula slowly starts to understand that for once old, foolish, bumbling Uncle Iroh had been right.

Her hurting lungs demand air and black spots are dancing in front of her eyes, taunting her with the prospect of defeat and failure, of shame and embarrassment. Azula can dimly feel her hands being pulled every which way and she can’t spot the waterbender anymore, but she can’t spot anything anymore, with the black spots multiplying and continuing their dizzying dance in front of her eyes.

Suddenly, there is air again, and Azula has never breathed so deep in her life. As she greedily inhales oxygen, she realizes – too late – that the waterbender has chained her to the ground, immobilizing her.

As her vision returns to her, she sees the peasant girl bent over Zuko. Just a few moments later, he gets up again, impossibly alive and well, albeit leaning on the waterbender for support.

Azula’s crying before she knows it and if she could think clearly, she’d be shocked at the inhuman wails echoing around the courtyard. She doesn’t entirely know where they’re coming from, but surely not from her.

Right?

That can’t be, that  _ mustn’t _ be, a mental breakdown would be a sign of weakness and she can’t let that happen.

She’s not weak, she’s not a failure.

But why, then, is she chained to the ground, unable to move, while Zuko is standing tall in front of her? And why is he alive? He should be… she shot him with  _ lightning _ —

Zuko, the reason why mother did the unthinkable and left, without ever trying to contact her children again, forgetting about them so easily as though they never meant anything to her in the first place.

_ I don’t think you’re a monster. _

_ I’ve always loved you. _

“Liar!” Azula wants to scream, but all she produces are animalistic wails, blue flames, and tears upon tears upon tears upon…

And so, it ends, the way it never should have ended, the way not even Azula’s worst nightmares had ended: it ends with her, defeated and alone, rapidly drowning in an ocean of insanity, while Zuko has stolen everything, her mother, her friends, and her crown.

For the first time in her life, Azula wishes she’d been born a little less lucky.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this fic, please consider leaving a comment and/or kudos - they always bring a smile to my face <333
> 
> I'm not a native speaker and this work is unbeta'd - have you noticed any mistakes? Please let me know, I'd really appreciate it!


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